Such a flap over "war zone" first ladies. The first war zone First Lady was Pat Nixon, not Hillary Clinton (i.e. since Eleanor Roosevelt). Duh!
From the National First Ladies' Library here.
Joining the President in his 1969 trip to South Vietnam, she became the first First Lady to visit a combat zone, flying just 18 miles from Saigon in an open helicopter and accompanied by Secret Service agents draped with bandoleers.
HT From Real Nixon here:
“For Mrs. Clinton to say she was the first First Lady taken into a war zone since Eleanor Roosevelt is absolutely untrue,” says Colonel Gene Boyer, who flew Mrs. Nixon in Vietnam as she visited the palace, an orphanage, a military evacuation hospital, and combat troops.
“We flew more than 1,500 feet above the ground in case of enemy fire,” Boyer says, “with fighter jets above and scores of helos flying under and around us for maximum protection. We even put down bullet proof mats on the helo floor.
“The Secret Service was against the trip,” Boyer says, “because the entire country was a war zone.”
Update: Story at Newsbusters here.
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